Photograph
by fowl68
Summary: And both men knew that, tonight, they’d be back at their small flat in the village farthest away from the old warzone and the graves with a bottle of scotch while they nursed old wounds that still had the power to hurt.
1. Chapter 1

_**Photograph**_

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything. The words in bold are from Photograph by Nickelback.

**Author's Note:** I don't know where I got this idea from, but I'm splitting this story up into several chapters.

-!-!-!-!

"_You never know what you've got until it's gone. Then you wonder where it went."-Anonymous_

-!-!-!-!

_**Look at this photograph  
Everytime I do it makes me laugh  
How did our eyes get so red  
And what the hell is on Joey's head**_

The Hokage Tower had once had rather plain cream walls with the occasional scroll. Most of the older shinobi remembered it as such. That was not the case when the Rokudaime took office. The walls were now littered with pictures of the Academy, the Rookie 9, and the jounin, of everyone. And on the rare days when the paperwork was done, Naruto would stand with hands stuffed in his pockets and head tilted up to look at the walls.

There was the one Christmas when they'd had to dress up as elves or reindeer and Kakashi was Santa. Near the very end of the day, all the genin had knelt around the large chair that Kakashi had been sitting in for the past five hours. Kakashi had a festive scarf over his Sharingan and a white mask to blend with the false beard. He'd had a hard time keeping the hat on, with his gravity-defying hair. Naruto knelt just on Kakashi's left, arm around Shikamaru's shoulder. All the elves wore green with slight variations on their costumes. Naruto had gotten a very jingly jester hat that they'd dyed green. The hat had looked very odd with his messy hair trapped beneath it. Shikamaru gotten a reindeer thanks to Ino and had his eyebrows arched and a 'Get me out of here' expression.

Kiba was sitting cross-legged beside a kneeling Hinata, who was also an elf. Most of the girls had gotten elves and instead of pants they got skirts of varying lengths. Lee had his arms around Tenten in a brotherly hug, both grinning and giving peace signs at the camera. Shino had been trying to hide before Chouji gently tugged him out and the Aburame still had his head ducked down and no one could deny the pink tint to his cheeks. Shino had refused to take off his glasses, so they told the small children that he was Santa's bodyguard. Naruto and Kiba had gotten walloped over the head for the comment by Sakura. Sakura and Ino sat in front of Santa with enormous grins and giving bunny ears to each other. Sasuke stood behind Naruto, head turned away from the camera, and face tinged pink. He'd gotten a reindeer as well. All of them had drawn from a hat; the one that had been sitting on Kakashi's head as a matter of fact.

Naruto knew when Sasuke joined him, leaning lightly against him, following his gaze. Neither said a word about the photos, although Naruto caught a reminiscent slight smile on Sasuke's face on occasion.

The next picture almost right beside it was after they'd changed out of their costumes, with many a grumble from the boys. They were all sitting outside on benches and tables sipping at hot chocolate and tea. The small café was nearly out of the frame on the left. The café wasn't there anymore to all of their great regret. Sasuke was sitting with his back to the camera, blowing gently at his tea before whoever was taking the picture (Naruto could've sworn it was Iruka or Kakashi) had called his name, making him look over his shoulder. Naruto sat right beside him except he sat on the tabletop, the mug in his hands as he smiled at the camera. The girls were all sitting at their own table, save for Tenten, and all gave the peace sign.

Team Gai sat at another table, Tenten and Lee grinning from ear to ear although Naruto remembered them being in an argument moments before. Kiba was giving Shino bunny ears and Shikamaru and Chouji had an arm around each others shoulders, their free hand holding the hot chocolate.

"How could they close that place down?"

Sasuke shrugged and Naruto felt the movement rather than saw it. "Sakura was thinking about reopening it. Her and Ino wanted to run it."

"_That_ would be interesting."

The next few were rather random pictures. The girls eating ice cream; Ino with her arms flung around Shikamaru and Chouji with Naruto looking rather clueless in the background. The next one had Kiba laughing with a small smile on Shino's face and Sasuke and Naruto looked like they were in the middle of an argument.

The final one on this section of wall was of Team Seven. Kakashi had his back against a wall, arms crossed and seemingly asleep, although Naruto couldn't remember whether he was feigning or not. Naruto wore board shorts and a too big T-shirt, head resting on Sasuke's abdomen .Sasuke wore cut off jean shorts and an old shirt with a few holes in it. He didn't seem to mind the weight on his stomach. Sakura was curled nearby, a pillow in her arms and a long nightshirt ended at her calves.

"I remember that." Sasuke said quietly.

"Mmhmm. That was the first time we went to the beach."

"And you tried surfing, failing terribly."

"Hey! Surfin's hard!"

"Sure sure."

"We need to head back sometime."

"Do your job as Hokage and give us a day off and we could."

"Oh yeah…"

"Dobe." Sasuke kissed his temple lightly.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Photograph**_

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything. The lyrics are from Photograph by Nickelback.

**Author's Note: **Thank God for random days off. It's cold down here, but from what I hear from up north in like Canada, it's pretty warm here at 40 degrees.

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"_Are you like a crazy person?"_

"_I am quite sure they will say so."-Evey and V __**(V for Vendetta)**_

-!-!-!-!

_**And this is where I grew up  
I think the present owner fixed it up  
I never knew we'd ever went without  
The second floor is hard for sneaking out**_

_**And this is where I went to school  
Most of the time had better things to do  
Criminal record says I broke in twice  
I must have done it half a dozen times**_

The mission room had been remodeled sometime in the past ten years without any of the shinobis' knowledge. The old bloodstained couch had been replaced with a new, squishy couch that was longer. On the couch had been a sheet of paper. In neat letters, someone had written, _If you get blood on this couch, I'll spill more of yours than you can spare. _Poor Ebisu, who had been the first to read it, had paled. When Iruka and Anko read it over his shoulder, they'd both dissolved into laughter, hanging onto each other to keep standing.

The desks hadn't been replaced, but they'd been cleaned and smelled faintly of lemon. Someone had bleached the rough carpet of its old bloodstains, but it was more than the mysterious redecorators could ask for no more blood on that carpet. The windows had been washed and the sun and moonlight streaming through it seemed all the brighter. A potted tree had appeared in the corner, its branches snaking their way up towards the ceiling. The tree had been dubbed Fabio by a very drunk Genma.

The most interesting thing that had changed was the walls. And when the shinobi entered the room, they stared, blinked a few times and stared a little more before sputtering into laughter. Photographs from years ago to very recently had been taped onto the walls. Genma sleeping on the old couch; Anko, Raidou, Hayate and Genma sitting on the Academy rooftop eating ice cream with two empty bottles of sake' sitting beside them with about three more full. Asuma and Genma when they were about eighteen sword-fighting with pens; Shizune blushing and holding Genma's hand.

Everyone who saw the next picture had burst into uncontrollable laughter, even Ibiki. Genma and Hayate, when they were kids, maybe five years old, dressed in their mothers' makeup and dresses. Hayate was looking at a pair of stiletto heels with a mixture of curiosity and horror. Genma, when he saw the picture that he hadn't seen in more than a decade, had turned the brightest of reds.

The shinobis' eyes all froze on a single picture. A teenage boy with dark spiky hair, onyx eyes hidden by vibrantly orange goggles and a ready-for-anything grin had his arm around a healthy-looking Hayate, who was smiling as well. The picture had been taken days before their graduation exams.

Their eyes continued along the wall, watching each other grow up. There was a tall blonde man whipping the pointed Hokage hat onto his head, the grin on his face infectious. There were the pictures of their old teams. So many people on those photos were gone now.

There was Sarutobi chasing after a wickedly smiling Obito and Iruka, who both had an empty can of paint and a large paintbrush in their hands. A sleeping Itachi just before the classic whipped cream/feather prank was pulled by Shisui, who had another hand over his mouth to contain his laughter. A photo of Itachi smiling (Iruka had worked for weeks to get that particular picture and had sent it to all of their friends). Kakashi with his hair dyed purple, the result of an infamous prank by Obito. A recent photo of Kakashi with his arm around Iruka's waist, Iruka's cheeks dusted with a blush.

There was Kurenai, Shizune, Rin and Anko, all grinning as they sat in front of the Academy gates, eating dango. There were photos of everyone, even Kakashi and Itachi who had both been pushed into the water forcefully, in a water war that they still laughed about. Itachi holding Sasuke the day he was born; Kakashi looking uncomfortable in a suit, standing beside a beaming Minato and a laughing Kushina, whose stomach had just been beginning to round with pregnancy at the wedding; Rin sitting on the swing just outside of the Academy with a green sketchbook.

There were pictures of the first challenges between Gai and Kakashi; who could read the most books, most paperwork done, who could run the fastest. There was an obvious gap when Gai stopped wearing his hand-me-down T-shirts and rough cotton pants and switched to his trademark green jumpsuit.

At the very end of the photos, in the smallest space available, and Kakashi smiled as he recognized his female student's handwriting._ Hope you guys enjoyed the present. Happy New Year and PLEASE don't screw it all up. I'm not cleaning it again._

Iruka sat behind the newly cleaned desk, eyes constantly straying to the walls. Kakashi stood beside him, leaning against the desk, eyes following Iruka's gaze.

"Sakura has an odd way of wishing us a Happy New Year." Kakashi commented.

"She's your student. Something had to rub off after all these years."

Kakashi chuckled. "Sure sure. Oh, and by the way, Iruka…"

The younger man turned at his name. Kakashi bent down swiftly, pressing a quick kiss to Iruka's lips. "Happy New Year, 'Ruka."


	3. Chapter 3

_**Photograph**_

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything. The lyrics are from Photograph by Nickelback.

**Author's Note: **My Spring Break has officially started! And I have to Start Fire Emblem 10 over because I did something extremely stupid, so that'll take me another three months to beat. But I've got Jack Skellington gloves now!

-!-!-!-!

_Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose. ~From the television show __**The Wonder Years**__**  
**_

-!-!-!-!

_I wonder if it's too late _

_Should I go back and try to graduate _

_Life's better now than it was back then _

_If I was them I would've let me in _

_Oh oh oh Oh god I, I _

_Every memory of looking out the back door _

_I have a photo album spread out on my bedroom floor _

_It's hard to say, It's time to say it _

_Goodbye, Goodbye _

_Every memory of walking out the front door _

_I found the photo of the friend that I was looking for It's hard to say, _

_It's time to say it _

_Goodbye, Goodbye _

_Remember the old arcade _

_Blew every dollar that we ever made _

_The cops hated us hangin' out _

_They say somebody went and burned it down _

_We used to listen to the radio _

_And sing along with every song we know _

_We said someday we'd find out how it feels _

_To sing to more than just the steering wheel_

Shikamaru knocked twice on the open door before entering. "Kurenai-sensei?"

"In here, Shikamaru."

He passed through the apartment that Kurenai had shared with Asuma, seeing small portions of their lives. He could see a small ring of keys, potted plants on the windowsill and the slight, lingering smell of smoke. Kurenai was in the spare room that her and Asuma had used for storage, but that she was cleaning out for her son.

Kurenai was kneeling, carefully keeping her balance and in one hand was a VHS tape.

"What's that?"

"Help me up and we can both find out."

Shikamaru took her arm and gently helped her to her feet. He knew she wasn't as fragile or as easily unbalanced as civilian pregnant women, but that didn't mean that she wouldn't fall. He held onto her arm the entire way to the living room and she popped the tape into the VCR.

The screen buzzed black and white for a half a minute before a boy that seemed maybe twelve or thirteen showed up on the screen, a broad grin on his face. Glaringly bright orange goggles were on his forehead and his dark hair looked like he just rolled out of bed.

"Hey, whoever's watching this. Future generations, I guess." The boy's voice still hadn't deepened. "Uh…I'm Uchiha Obito and I'm videotaping Konoha!"

The landscape was a blur as he camera was moved and the screen was shaky as Obito walked to the edge of the Hokage Rocks. The view was very familiar. "This is Konoha, obviously. It is…ten fifty-three in the morning. Let's see who's up, shall we?" The screen blacked out for a moment.

Shikamaru recognized the house that Obito was standing in front of when there was color in the world again. The Inuzuka house. A younger Hana was playing with a group made up of dogs and wolves.

"Hey, Hana! Say hi to the future generations!"

The Inuzuka stood, hands on her hips as she looked at the camera with an arched eyebrow. "Uchiha, you're insane."

"Oh come on! Tell me this isn't cool. You little brother will be able to watch this and will go, 'Wow, Hana, you looked a lot prettier back then. What happened?'"

Obito, and thus the camera, ducked Hana's playful blow, before Obito refocused the camera onto her. "Come on, a message for everyone. Everyone's gonna get something on this tape."

"Really?"

"Mmhmm. That bastard Kakashi too."

"Dear God. Uh…Hi, I guess. Hope everything's good in the future and…that's all I've got."

"You are a fountain of inspiration, Hana." Obito remarked dryly.

The screen went black again before it cleared and showed the dango shop. There were three teens hanging out there, and they all turned in curiosity to the camera. One was certainly Asuma, a cigarette secured between his lips even back then; another was Genma, the senbon in his lips wobbling dangerously and then there was Hayate, a can of soup in his hands.

"Obito, do I wanna know?" Asuma asked, twirling the stick that had previously held dango unconsciously between his fingers.

"Well, I figured 'cause of the war and all, we'd wanna send a message to future generations and say hi to everyone in the future. Do you know how cool it would feel to be able to say hi to your past?"

The boys shrugged. That was the wonderful thing about a lot of men. They don't question things as much as women do. Hayate went first.

"Um, hey to anyone watching this. Hopefully, we'll all still be here when this is all over…"

Genma swung an arm around Hayate's neck. "Geez, Hayate, you sound so despondent."

"Careful, Genma, that's a big word." Asuma remarked, a grin spreading across his face as he leaned back to avoid the careless stab with a dango stick.

"Hush, Asuma. You're setting a bad example for our future children."

A smirk formed on the smoker's lips. "Because you'll be having kids anytime soon."

Genma flushed. "You get my point."

All four of them burst into laughter and Obito slipped the lens cover on, blacking the screen.

The scene when the cover was removed was of two people standing in a doorway. The one on the right was a green-eyed redheaded woman, but that didn't quite cover it. Her hair fell like a red curtain to her waist. Her eyes were like green fire, if fire could burn green. Her stomach was just beginning to shove the curve of pregnancy.

The other was a blue-eyed blonde haired man, but again, that description didn't do him justice. The unruly blonde locks were as golden as Naruto's hair, like sunshine, though it looked a little metallic in the hallway lighting. His eyes were a paler blue than Naruto's, like that of a Siberian husky, but Shikamaru had seen the man before; hundreds of times in fact. The textbooks that Iruka had given them that he'd skimmed through without much interest had had several pictures of him, but those had always been professionally taken, with his face always serious. Not in the video. There was confusion evident on both of their features.

"Hey, Minato-sensei! Kushina!" Obito greeted.

"Obito, what's with the video camera?"

"Ne, don't you wanna send a message to your kid when he grows up and sees it? I'm getting messages from everybody."

Both Kushina and Minato smiled and the picture looked so peaceful right then. Like there had been no war. Shikamaru glanced at Kurenai and tried to read her thoughts. She'd known these people, had grown up with them, laughed, cried, played, and fought in a war with these people. Did it hurt seeing their faces smiling like that, not knowing what fate would befall them?

Kushina waved to the camera. "Hey everyone who's watching this. God, I hope there are still VCR's in the future. Whoever this little person inside of me is, I hope I'll be able to meet you and, if not, I want you to know that I know you've probably grown up into an amazing person. Probably a little perverted, knowing Minato and Jiraiya-sensei, but a good person nonetheless."

Minato looked at her, mouth agape and she smiled sweetly at him as Obito roared with laughter, trying to hold the camera steady.

"Little person, I'm just gonna call you that 'cause, at the moment, we have no idea what or who you are, but don't mind your mother. She's a little crazy."

"But you love me anyway."  
"Wouldn't have married you if I didn't."

"Kurenai-sensei…can I show this tape to Naruto?" Shikamaru asked quietly.

She nodded and he had a feeling that she wasn't quite able to speak right now. They finished watching the tape in silence, watched a smiling Rin, Kurenai and Shizune wave from inside a hospital room; watched Obito spray a sleeping Kakashi with a hose; watched the younger versions of so many familiar faces that were no longer here grin like they didn't have a care in the world.

* * * *

Naruto stared at his parents smiling at him. He spoke through the lump in his throat. "This was really them?"

Shikamaru nodded, unable to look at the smiling couple on the screen. There was a sudden warmth around his waist and a face pressed into his shoulder.

"Thank you." Naruto murmured against his shoulder. "Thanks for bringing me this."

Shikamaru hugged him back gently. "No problem."


	4. Chapter 4

_**Photograph**_

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything. The lyrics are from Photograph by Nickelback and Pictures of You by the Last Goodnight.

**Author's Note: **The final chapter! I'm slowly working on updating everything, so don't worry. We played Ultimate Frisbee in PE today, which is football with a Frisbee, pretty much. One of the funnest games EVER. And I beat one one of the most frustrating people in all of Tales of Symphonia 2, and my Wii shut off. Now I have to go back and redo it all. : (

-!-!-!-!

_**  
"**__Sometimes, Ms. Lane, one must break with the past to embrace one's future. It is never an easy thing to do. It is one of the distinguishing characteristics between survivors and victims. Letting go of what was to survive what is."—Jericho Barrons __**(Darkfever)**_

-!-!-!-!

_I miss that town  
I miss the faces  
You can't erase  
You can't replace it  
I miss it now  
I can't believe it  
So hard to stay  
Too hard to leave it_

If I could I relive those days  
I know the one thing that would never change

Every memory of looking out the back door  
I had the photo album spread out on my bedroom floor  
It's hard to say it, time to say it  
Goodbye, goodbye.  
Every memory of walking out the front door  
I found the photo of the friend that I was looking for  
It's hard to say it, time to say it  
Goodbye, goodbye.

Look at this photograph  
Everytime I do it makes me laugh  
Everytime I do it makes me...

The concrete streets were smeared with ashes, coal and rubble. What were once sturdy buildings were reduced to charred beams and slabs of stone. The mountain face was bare and smoothed away, though there was a faint sense of presence in that mountain.

Footsteps echoed in the too silent atmosphere, but stopped as their owner crouched beside a mound of unrecognizable rubble, blonde hair falling forward in front of his eyes. He cleared away some of the debris, splinters imbedding themselves in his skin. Finally, he carefully lifted an object out of the debris, gently blowing to remove the dust and ash.

A group of faces looked back at him, frozen expressions fading from the weight of time. There were two pairs of pale lavender eyes, both calm and peaceful. Sparkling orbs of emerald, sapphire, and obsidian were in the center, all looking as though there was nowhere else they'd rather be. Friendly arms were slung over shoulders, wide grins were stretched across faces filled with a youthful glow—Gods, had ever really looked that young?—and peace signs were facing the camera.

The man stood and walked through the debris, ignoring the fact that the splinters had caused his hands to bleed slightly. He would bend down now and again and brush away the debris of his once-home and find another photo. One was of four people, a blonde man with his strong hands on two boys shoulders. One of the boys had silver hair, the other darkest ebony while the girl in between them had burnished auburn hair. Others were of a couple, one with black hair and strong bone structure with green-clad arms around a redheads shoulders as the he hugged the redhead from behind.

A sad smile upturned the corners of the man's lips. How many of them were gone now? A handful1 had breathed their last on the battlefield, some in his very lap as he held them while their souls fled their bodies with that last, peaceful sigh; others, the angels had called to them from their sleep, their spirits, so very weary from too long roads, following.

The footsteps that the blonde knew were there were nearly nonexistent, like a shadow. "Did you find anything?" the other man asked. He was much like a shadow himself, slender and most overlooked him, but he was always there.

The blonde only stood, holding out the photo for inspection. He could see the look in the other man's chocolate eyes as old wounds were lanced open once again. Memories were coming to him too, memories of times when they had nothing to do but play in the river, laze the days away by watching clouds. And both men knew that, tonight, they'd be back at their small flat in the village farthest away from the old warzone and the graves with a bottle of scotch (or perhaps whiskey) while they nursed old wounds that still had the power to hurt.

_Pictures of you, pictures of me_

_Remind us all of what we used to be_


End file.
